Playing with F3 boys

25.10.2013

Technical defect, drive-through penalty, two collisions with the same competitor, heavy rain, lots of near-misses – Kevin’s F3 weekend at Hockenheim was not short of events.

Kevin jumped into F3 car for the final event of European F3
Championship which was held at Hockenheim on October 11-13. His Nissan-powered
car was the same Kevin used during tests on the same venue a couple of weeks
ago. But this time it was not so much about results and speed rather than
qualifying for Macau F3 Grand Prix. Kevin only needed to finish one of three
races for this but events out of his control made the weekend extremely
eventful. Kevin had to fight hard and put all his mental strength to a good use
to achieve even this modest target.

This was perhaps your worst competitive weekend this
year?

Basically yes, if you count results only. But fortunately it
was a weekend where results were not the most important. My aim was to qualify
for Macau which meant I had to finish a race. There was some disadvantage – I
had had a long break since my last race while regular Euro F3 guys had three
races a week earlier. But it was also a good preparation for GP3 final round.
OK, cars are very different in F3 but at least I could drive something. Five
weeks without any racing would have been much worse.

Pace was definitely there?

Yes, I was 9th, 10th and 21st in qualification but gaps were
very narrow and this is a track where it is almost impossible to overtake. I
made a good start in race 1 but then on the second lap when I started to think
about overtaking for P6 the car simply broke down. Second race I kept tenth at
the start but then several cars were dive-bombing into the hairpin and I let
them by to avoid collision. I needed a finish and there was no point to push like
a hell. But car was OK, my speed was good and Top 10 was definitely on the
cards. But it is extremely hard to follow other cars with so aero-dependent car
like F3. You are half a second back and you already lose front downforce and
car starts to understeer. When I got one free lap, I instantly clocked the best
time in sector 2 and fifth best lap-time.

Then I got penalized and eventually retired due to the
collision.

You were penalized during Q2 as well?

Yes, two laps were deleted, otherwise I could have been in
Top 10 once more. It was all about turn 1. They used to have gravel trap there
but it was replaced with asphalted run-off area a few years ago. Everybody is
on the limit in this turn and it is very easy to cross the white line with all
four wheels. Almost everybody got warning during race two but unfortunately I
was spotted crossing the line twice and had to drive through the pit-lane.

This penalty indirectly led to a collision with Félix Serrallés where
he totally lost his temper and was excluded as a result. It was rather
spectacular on TV but what we didn’t see was the beginning.

I got penalized as did Serrallés. He served his
drive-through one lap later than me and exited the pits just in front of me. It
was the same sequence we drove before our penalties. I got a good run on him
into Turn 2 but he closed the door and I had to brake hard in order not to hit
him. But then I got absolutely perfect slipstream exiting turn 3. It was so
good I simply glided past him and started to veer to the right in order to retake
the ideal racing line. It is a usual way racing driver behave when overtaking
somebody, I have done it tens of times and always the other guy has given a
way, nothing has happened. But Serrallés kept his line and collided with my
right-rear wheel.

And your rear suspension was broken immediately?

Yes. But it was a fortunate clash because my car continued
to move in straight line. It could have been much worse if the car had started
rotating, speed is quite high in this place.

You retired at the next turn but Serrallés still hit you.

I went onto the outside run-off area in the hairpin and had
no idea about where Serrallés was. I only noticed him when his car was next to
my one. Next instant he simply drove into me.

You both had to visit stewards after the race but did you
had a fear of punishment for the initial collision?

No, because I was so much in front of him already. He hit my
rear wheel, it was not my fault but his.

In race three you finally reached the flag.

Yeah, we started behind the safety car because of the bad
visibility. It was really bad. Once I drove one meter behind another car and
still couldn’t see his rear light. On another occasion I missed a rear wing of
other car by maybe five centimeters. We even couldn’t see our braking points.
It was like I started braking and then when visibility improved for a moment,
realized that I had done it 100 meters too early. So there was no point to
drive like a crazy. Of course under those conditions you can climb a lot when
taking risks but you can also have a crash. And I needed a finish.